Ox to step up?

Well, the fans have giving the team a good kicking this week, we can only hope they pass it on to Aston Villa this afternoon.

We are always unlucky about meeting a team as they are in good from and today is no exception. Given last season’s miserable performances it was more likely that Lambert would be sacked rather than make his young team into the formidable opponents they will be post kick-off. Fair play to the man.

Or could it be his assistant who has engendered this startling change of form? Keane doesn’t like Arsenal, never has. He does however respect The Arsenal and has been involved in may victories over us. Has he learned from Surralex? I am convinced he has and expect to see Villa play the same way MU did when they could beat us … that is, with violence. Not just violence but cunning violence. Expect the game to start with a flurry of nasty tackles on our creative players (rotational of course). How the game develops from here will depend upon two things

1. How our delicate flowers respond to a bit of aggressive pruning (just for you Peaches 🙂 )

2. The strength of the referee. Today we are blessed with Mike Jones.

Before discussing Jones may I remind you of how the referee affected the game in our opening fixture last season. Anthony Taylor was so poor he was demoted – deservedly so. Do you recall how he waved play on after a TPIG foul in the area and then when Agbonglahor missed gave a penalty (which they scored)

Where was I? Ah yes, Mike Jones. Last season in 32 games he gave out 108 yellows and 3 reds. Yes, you read that right! This season after 3 games 10 yellows and one red. This chap is card happy. Will this be a good thing this afternoon? The stats do not show whether he is affected by the home crowd as so many refs are. We must hope not and that he continues to brandish yellow each time one of AV’s thugs ploughs through the back of our heroes.

We welcome the return of Big Phil. A player I have always liked – not Arsenal quality but a top bloke and one of Peaches faves. Alongside Vlaar he makes a fine CB partnership and with two quality FB’s Villa have become very difficult to break down. Especially as they have a busy midfield with Delph showing just why he was so highly rated as a teenager at Leeds.

Upfront, they rely upon pace which is not good news for BFG. Breakaway goals are an AV speciality and we can only hope the lessons of Tuesday night have been learned. We cannot afford to be too gung-ho.

Arsenal: Please, please play Oxlade-Chamberlain today. I don’t care who gets dropped, we need his energy and drive.

The difficulty as I see it is how does a player recover from a bad bout of form without playing? Ramsey is one of our best players but of late has been completely anonymous (apart from scoring two vital goals 😃 ). Can Mr Wenger drop him? Can he drop Ozil? Of course he can but will he?

Can Sanchez play twice a week given the amount of energy he expends during a game? Or Welbeck, who has covered more ground in 3 games than Giroud does in 6.

This is a tough team to guess but let’s try

I am excited to see Chambers get a run in the position he was bought for. Once again we have a powerful bench though lacking in defensive possibilities

Being in the Midlands the food I associate with Villa is always a curry – so I will choose one of my favourite dishes, a Daal Makhani. I read that one of the best can be purchased at the Sanskrit in Stratford Rd.. Add in a Paneer Marsala and a few breads and you are assured a veritable eating extravaganza.

All it needs is a chilled Lager

Birmingham is home to a host of famous drink and food brands. Typhoo tea, Birds Custard, Bournville cocoa, Cadbury’s chocolate and HP sauce all originate in Brum.

Can we win today? Of course. Our team will be desperate to absolve themselves after the Dortmund Debacle. If it goes tit’s up it will not be because of lack of effort. We have attacking talent in spades, our defence will be augmented by the excellent Gibbs, and we have a fine record at Villa Park

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2014 at 10:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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What’s up, bitches?
Just steamed into the Pilsner and Savannah Dry on the way to Birmingham. Ant has flopped his nuts on the table in the hope of grabbing and a 4 seater for the two of us. ( three of us, I should say, after my op)

Gaah.. Any mention of the Anthony Villa game last season makes me mad. BY the way, it is incorrect that Taylor was demoted. The media ran with that story but all that happened was that he was the 4th official the following week. Something which is not normally considered a demotion. Mike Dean was another who was 4th official that week.

I hope to see some rotation, but I agree that it is unlike Wenger to drop players so quickly without giving them a chance at redemption. Still, I’d like to see Cazorla and the Ox play. I think they deserve it on form. Poor Rosicky will probably only play in the COC, along with perhaps Podolski.

If we play with focus, we should be able to counteract Villa’s game. DOn’t commit too many forward, and yes, not to put both fullback forward against them, because they attack from the flanks with speed on the counter. They’ll love to win it back in midfield and so the likes of Arteta and Jack (if they play) will have to be much better than they were against Dortmund.

I wonder who will play RB today. Will it be Chambers, or does Bellerin continue there. I would like it to be Bellerin because i don’t want all 3 of our CBs on the pitch at the same time. Also, I think Bellerin’s speed will help.

have avoided the internet as far as arsenal is concerned since the away loss in Germany, could not afford to read all the doom (even the subtle ones) & frankly there was not a lot of positives to take from that game & so I resume my internet attendance of all things arsenal with raddy’s pre-match!

I don’t know about the ox, but two players I think have got to start are santi & little Mozart (& this has nothing to do with him being my all time fave).

I can see the merits in playing a player into form, but I think it finally bit us on the bum in Germany. One quality the Mozart has is making everyone around him play better. Alexis & welbeck do a good pressing job up front but the opposition defenders always seem to have a passing option in their midfield who is under no pressure.
With rosicky in the side, we would have a middle harrier! Plus much quicker transition & link up play.

Santi, the man for the occasion when chips are down & scattered all over the floor.

so, if I agree with BR, then it’d be a front three of welbz, ox & santi, a middle three of arteta, jack & Mozart with the usual (available) suspects at the back.

Will be watching chambers very closely, he’ll be up against gabby agbonlahor, he’ll have his work cut out for him today & will truly earn his week’s wages if he comes out tops.

BR
I have no idea what happened to the comment first time, but I have reposted it now, if someone with authority could please remove the first one so I don’t come across as an asylum escapee i’d be appreciative

Great pre-match Raddy as ever. Villa are proving to be difficult to break down and we’re going to have to be patient and clever today and hope we don’t concede any silly goals. Normal Arsenal really.

I’m thrilled for Phil but hope he has a stinker today 😉

The Ox must be given a starting berth, he can’t be expected to come on at 70 minutes to change the game – it’s too much responsibility for one so young and he just runs around trying too hard to make something happen. I feel that Wenger is using him in a very unusual way. In the past he’s blooded young ones with 5 minutes at the end of a game slowly increasing their time on the pitch over a number of weeks but maybe he doesn’t trust The Ox. I’m not sure I understand why he’s not starting.

Second, Alexis. IMO he has to play and in the centre. He is the only one who is fighting for 50-50 balls in the midfield. Yes, he has been working hard, but he is Chilean so should be fine. I would leave Ozil on the bench.

Third, Welby is OK, but let us not bloat up the burden of expectations. I think “Welbeck, who has covered more ground in 3 games than Giroud does in 6” conveys a sense of achievement and enterprise that is yet to be reflected in his performances for us. Yes, Welby makes a lot of runs, but more like headless chicken. What Welby has to do is try and beat the covering defender to the final ball. No use running in and hitting your head against a brick wall.

When there doing the show, does any one else find Ant and Chas worringly atractive? Or is just me?

Cheers Raddy. Top stuff from the pre match king.

Its a tough game but we should really beat these. We know whats going to happen. As Raddy says, they will foul, defend deep, and hit us on the counter.

There crowd will be up for it to. A chance to go top of the league dosnt come often for Villa fans. Neither do attractive women and charasmatic personality.

Ime not sure about the Keane factor? Knowing him he probably wants Villa to lose, thus givig him an excuse to attack a Villa player or headbut a wall.

For that reason I expect a hard and uncompromising affair in which we win 5-0.

After the game Arsene will praise our spirit and Lambert will claim his team were excellent and if the linesman had spotted that handball that wasnt five miniutes before we scored our first goal, his team would have won. Because they were excellent.

Thank-you raddy. I agree it is a difficult team to pick. I expect us to control much of the game but As you said they like to counter attack and have the pace to do it. As such i would sacrifice experience for pace drop bfg and play bellerin at rfb and chambers with kos. I can go with the rest of the team you have and giving sanchez a breather. The only thing is i would line up with jack as one of a deeper 2 and keep him more disciplined today and give the other 4 a more free attacking licence. That gives us loads of attacking intent but pace at the back and a 2 man midfield screen. That should stifle their counter attack plan. Go too gung ho without pace at the backand lack of protection in front and it could play into their hands.

Not too sure about that team. We should really beat Villa with any number of formations but it still smacks of a team that pays little or no attention to how Villa want to play or their strengths. Looks like we are benching some pace players for slower players. We shall see it should hopefully be fine.

I just looked back on some comments and am a bit perturbed by the Ant / Duck / Terry menage a trois. Having searched my feelings I realise it is not horror that is bothering me but jealousy. It seems RA has become a self nominated dating agency so i will have to ask him if there is room for one more.

Two of them were particularly appalling in their criticism (not everyone, but cliques in each) of Arsene and, well all the players really, and now they are all crowing that it was their criticisms that changed Wenger’s mind and therefore the current score is all down to them.

The world is going mad, as we all know, but really when football blogs come down to this nonsense, it makes you shudder.

Nice one Big Raddy,
What a change, completely different team turned up, and a pleasure to watch, I had a bit of a dodgy stream but didn’t miss any of the goals. In five minutes we took control Villa was destroyed, A fine display of keep ball in the second half, and although it got a bit annoying, they never looked like letting Villa have a look in. Somebody must have read my comment about taking one for the team as that is what happened on a couple of occasions. Calum Chambers is beginning to be a man for all positions, didn’t see the line up but it looked like he played his roll on the wing and he has a turn of speed as well. This guy can play anywhere and get away with it. Mesut was a little maestro today involved in everything that was good, scored a fine goal and was involved in the others,

Eddie owes me a drink, although she will say i got the score wrong, so keep your money in your pocket 🙂 For those who wasn’t there or watching, i believe you will enjoy the highlights.

I still believe we can better this display and when we are ready we could easily drub somebody bigtime.

That was a really good professional performance. More confidence in a much changed team.

My guess is that Sanchez has a slight problem and might have been brought on if needed.

Ozil,Gibbs and Kos were outstanding,everyone played their part though I think in a way Ramsey is trying too hard and therefore it is having a reverse effect on his game,but it is a temporary lack of form.

Pleased for Welbeck, that will boost his confidence.

On a personal note I have so much going on in my personal life that I will pop on when possible but concentrating on anything for a period of time, is extremely hard, therefore I wouldn’t do justice to a match review.
I am going into hospital on Monday and then hopefully things will become clearer.

Hello there. Am on the road again, but did I get it right, 0-3?? Very impressive, and good to hear our Mancunion got off the mark and our German main man got one to tell the doubters where to shove it. Looking forward to finding some highlights somewhere.

I have found coverage of Whammers v Pool – the scousers are making a go of it now but West Ham deserve to be in the lead. Alex Song did well until subbed a few minutes ago.

Özil through the middle and plays out of his skin! Maybe he’s trying to tell the manager something? Great to see Welbeck score his first goal. Just what he and the team needed and could be the first of many.

Great result today and makes up for the 2 we lost at Leicester in comparison to last season. Still unbeaten.

Wow, just seen our first 2 goals. shows what an injection of pace and 1 touch passing can do. The 2 assists were outstanding, but it was the quick passes before them that really opened up Villa.

A couple of vital saves from Szscesny too which kept us at 0-0. The space we found for our goals doesn’t appear if you are 1-0 down. If we can get a consistent back 5 for a few weeks then the clean sheets will come and our attackers will find it easier to win us the games.

Yes we didn’t play well against Dortmund, no one can deny that. But the reaction to it from some quarters was as per usual a bit too much egg for the pudding.

Haven’t been on since not because of the result or the reaction but been busy, so busy I didn’t even try and find a stream today.

Maybe the media will crucify Liverpool for their two results either side of CL, but maybe they’ll give them the excuse of that CL tie against a team that was amateur 4 years ago.

Maybe they’ll question Rogers tactical nouse or use of players or maybe they’ll just call it a blip.

Every year we see and hear the same old shit and every year too many seasoned fans fall for it. Let’s just support and see what happens. 183 comments for a 3 pm victory, 250+ comments for a 8pm defeat. And most of today’s comments are the enjoyable pre match entertainment drinking tour of Ant n Duck

Your last paragraph is why I no longer enjoy blogging and have restricted my involvement. Far too many people are led by the nose based on media (including the internet) reports and it’s both infuriating and disturbing.

Against Villa today Mesut Ozil put up a big F.U. finger to his critics and showed just what an incredible player he really is – it seems that only AW believed in him. Here we are one of only two unbeaten teams in the PL we have the FA Cup and Community Shield in our trophy cabinet and it’s still not good enough.

Chas and Ant show us what REAL supporters are like and I tip my hat to them and just wish that I could join them in their travels, Thank you both for showing the moaners and groaners and pseudo intellectual experts how real fans should really behave, the noise from you away supporters today was overwhelming.

Morning Gooner’s,
Always a great day after a win, but i must admit to giving the team a fair bit of stick. Like most supporters who care, i am usually critical of my own team when they don’t perform.

When i look at the talent that Arsene has amassed, i have to say i expect more at times. Yes we can always say we need more players in certain positions, but although our finances look very good in print, we have spent more than we have in years.

I can be very critical at times, but we have a very good team, although we lost some pretty good players over the years, i think its fair to say that Arsene has still kept us in the top half of the league.

Many clubs would certainly like our record, of top 4’s but supporters like myself often expect us to be better. I feel we are building towards a better squad, and things take time to happen, but we are doing it the way Football clubs should, and that is buy who we can afford but not stupidly.

Arsenal FC have a solid foundation, we are one of the wealthiest clubs in the world but we are not into buying success, that has to be admired. Wenger is now buying top players but he is not going overboard.

Very hard to compete with clubs who spend over a hundred million a season, and could quite easily spend the same in every window. Top 4 is still a blinding position to finish In a league that has multi billion owners, so what we are doing is very commendable.

Watching our win yesterday has lifted spirits, still a long way to go, but the way we have started is very encouraging and who knows what could happen for the rest of the season.

At present i don’t suppose we can moan that much, we will of course but who doesn’t.

Morning all. Only just about to watch MOTD so I have no comment on the game as of yet.

I love all your pics Chas. I don’t always have time to comment on each one but normally always look back on each of them when I can.

BTW Chas I have no idea how you can go on a mission like yesterday and still be up contributing to this side before 7.00am. My hat off to you sir. Remind me never to head away with you boys for any weekend with a general description of “there may be a couple of drinks involved”.

BTW, remember my Friday rant about the “former Liverpool legend” pundits. I will now be looking forward over the next 2-3 days to hearing them offer some positive praise to Arsenal while dissecting all that is wrong at Liverpool. Or maybe they will just conveniently ignore it and not say anything. I suspect they will all go silent until we reach a weekend when Liverpool have a big win and we struggle.